Geology Sum05k.Indd

Chair’s welcome Punctuated equilibrium marks department’s evolution This year, we celebrate the final fruition of Mead Geologic Field Station. But in addi- the generous contributions and incessant tion, recent major gifts from Bill and Janet work of many alumni for over a decade Cordua and one from the family of Maynard to establish various endowments. The last and Winnie Coller underwrite two sizeable few years have been incredibly successful undergraduate scholarships. years in the history of our department. Not A few years ago students started an only have our continuing faculty produced entirely student-driven event to showcase much and been honored with many acco- their research in the form of oral and poster lades, but between 2001 and 2005 we have presentations in spring. This has now ex- been able to attract and add six new faculty panded to include presentations by students members. from other Indiana schools, such as Pur- All of this has been possible as a direct due, IUPUI, and other campuses. Judging consequence of the campaigns run by the is done by faculty from several campuses, members of our Advisory Board beginning geologists from the Indiana Geological in 1996. The campaign has resulted in the Survey, and most graciously by alumni who hiring of Mark Person in 2001 as the Mal- fly in from distant locations such as Hous- com and Sylvia Boyce Chair in Hydrogeol- ton and New Orleans. The awards ceremo- ogy, of David Bish in 2003 as the Haydn ny is the most-anticipated time of the day, Murray Chair in Applied Clay Mineralogy, and all winners greatly appreciate the cash of Bradley Ritts in 2005 as the Robert R. awards from gifts by well-wishers. Shrock Professor in Sedimentary Geology, Support from the College for student and of Kaj Johnson in 2005 as the Judson travel is dwindling fast. It is only because Mead Professor of Applied and Exploration we have the support from our well-wish- Geophysics (Kaj will begin his residency Abhijit Basu ers that we can afford all-important field in fall 2005 and will assume formal faculty trips for our majors and graduate students. responsibilities in fall 2006). In addition, pleasure and not as a matter of formal duty. Professor Robert Wintsch, for example, has Jürgen Schieber and Chen Zhu joined our I describe below a few of the main expenses started to lead extended field trips that are faculty in 2003 as associate professors in that we have been able to incur for advanc- not required for any course but that en- lines left open through retirements and left ing our department and supporting our hance students’ understanding of how the unfilled for a few years. The whole faculty students as the donors have wished. earth works. This year, he led 10 students has been inspired by the new hires and the Three graduate fellowships are now to Canada and Maine to study the tectonics annual seed money for research, which is funded routinely from endowments in the of the northeastern coast of North Ameri- drawn from the interests of the endow- names of Galloway-Perry-Horowitz, Dan ca. We are providing scholarships to three ments. In 2004, our external grants nearly Tudor, and Bill Thornbury. The College of students who intend to major in geology tripled over the steady average of the previ- Arts and Sciences provides tuition waivers and are taking a field course with Professor ous few years. to the recipients, enabling us to stretch the Michael Hamburger in the Sierra Moun- Please read about multifarious activities value of the fellowships. This year we will tains in California. We continue to partially and achievements of our faculty, new and also add money to a gift from Chevron- defray the cost of student travel to national old, in Faculty News on page 11. I refrain Texaco to award two additional fellowships. and international meetings where they pres- from taking the thunder away from indi- Not only do fellowships free up time for ent papers. We are particularly delighted vidual write-ups, but I would like to high- students to conduct more intensive re- that our students travel abroad, especially light at least two. Haydn Murray brought a search, they also allow us to compete with to Europe and open new frontiers. With crowning glory to the department again by other schools in attracting qualified gradu- globalization and the internationalization being inducted into the National Academy ate students. of employment, such experience becomes of Engineers (the only one from Indiana This summer we instituted, on a trial invaluable for our graduates. University in its 177-year history) and in basis, summer fellowships for graduate stu- For several years we have been routinely receiving an honorary degree from Indiana dents without other summer support to stay supplementing faculty research from the University, the highest honor that any union campus and conduct research. This is interest of endowment funds. These have versity can bestow on an individual. And, in addition to grants-in-aid of research that included direct expense for fieldwork, labo- Professor David Bish and Professor Jürgen students receive from alumni gifts to supple- ratory analyses, purchase of equipment, and Schieber have been selected by NASA to ment costs that are not commonly covered travel to meetings on a limited basis. Such help design two separate instruments of by extramural grants. We have also instituted support has proven indispensable as seed a total of only eight in the Mars Science cash awards for students who publish peer- money for new research and in attracting Laboratory, a Lander, to be launched in reviewed papers in standard journals before extramural support. 2009. graduation. This incentive should go far and Our colloquium series in which we invite Accountability is a word that is often make us far more visible in the professional experts from other institutions to come and bandied around in the media and in po- world than before. And, we continue to visit with students and faculty is nearly fully litical circles as a cliché. Accountability, recognize excellence of our students in the funded from gifts. Two of these colloquia however, is actually a social responsibility. form of awards and scholarships. Many of are very dear to us. One is the lecture de- The time has come for us to account to the these go to those attending our time-hon- livered by the winner of the Owen Award, alumni and all donors. This I do with great ored G429 at the Indiana University Judson (continued on page 3) 1 Around the Department Brad Ritts named Shrock Professor of Sedimentary Geology rad Ritts joined the department this gious NSF Career Award, are in tectonics intraplate tectonics. summer as the new Robert Shrock and sedimentation and petroleum systems In addition to the China research, Ritts BProfessor of Sedimentary Geol- analysis. Most of his research is currently is starting a new project on basin analysis ogy. He comes to IU after six years on the in China. He has multiple students work- and petroleum geology of the eastern Sea faculty of Utah State University in Logan, ing on the structural, sedimentary, and of Okhotsk and western Kamchatka penin- Utah; before that, he worked for Chevron paleoclimatic evolution of the northeastern sula in the Russian far east. He’ll complete Overseas Petroleum in San Ramon, Calif., Tibetan Plateau in an effort to understand his first field season there this year. Re- as a new-ventures exploration geologist. how Cenozoic collision and convergence search in petroleum systems is primarily on Ritts received a PhD from Stanford, between India and Eurasia was accommo- nonmarine basins and ranges from reservoir where he worked on the sedimentary and dated in the interior of the continent, how characterization and modeling to oil-source petroleum geology of the Tarim and Qa- the Tibetan Plateau formed, and how its rock correlation studies. This petroleum- idam basins in China with his adviser and uplift changed the paleoclimate, paleogeog- related research has recently included stud- IU alumnus Steve Graham. Ritts received raphy, and paleoecology of the region. ies of offshore Angola, the western United a BS from the University of Rochester, Another line of research in China fo- States, China, and Russia. where he did a senior thesis under another cuses on the genetic mechanisms of the In his spare time, Ritts enjoys mountain IU alumnus, Pete DeCelles. He received an giant, nonmarine sedimentary basins that biking, skiing, and playing with stray dogs. MS from MIT. characterize the Mesozoic-Cenozoic of the He’s looking forward to getting established Ritts’s research interests, which have country (and much of central Asia) and in his new Brown County home. been formally recognized with a presti- feedbacks between basin formation and Geophysics group expands collaborative projects and outreach t’s been a busy year for the geophysics Shannon of Crown Point, and Bill Combs interested in geodynamic research. The group. Gary Pavlis, graduate student of Crawfordsville, spent a month working maps recently received rave reviews in Sci- ITammy Baldwin, and geophysics tech- with Hamburger and Pavlis this summer, ence magazine. Check out the map tool at nician Terry Stigall have taken the lead and they presented their results at a special www.jules.unavco.org. on a major seismology field experiment in symposium at the American Geophysical Hamburger continues a collaborative Venezuela, including nearly 100 permanent Union in San Francisco. teaching effort with John Rupp, bring- and temporary seismic stations, both on Hamburger and Pavlis have been heavily ing a small group of first- and second-year land and in the Caribbean sea floor.

Load more